Path of the Sage
by Mistical Ninja
Summary: At the start of the turn of the world, one being not of the world of benders finds himself awakening in a strange new land. Is it a blessing or a curse? If a man is given a second chance at life, is it enough to heal a broken soul? Or is he forever damned to carry the weight of all he has done? Only time knows the answer to that question, and she isn't telling.


Foreward: So first and foremost, I'd like to welcome you, one and all to my latest attempt to motivate myself to actually write something I might enjoy. This story is... well. One I've argued with myself over for quite some time. I actually have a fair bit assembled in my head, but the first part is just going to be getting myself in the habit of writing again. And thus, we have this Prelude. I'm actually curious if anyone would be interested to see where this story goes. Know this, it will **not **be following Canon. Or at least, not for long. The story will start making major changes about 3-4 episodes into the first season, and things will keep going from there. Though, the first part will just be us **getting** there.

I will be taking my time with this. I want it to be everything I've been imagining. If that's not for you, I understand and wish you well on your reading ventures. For everyone else..? Welcome.

Also, as a final sidenote, I'm doing this completely on my own and with no beta (yet..?) So if there are mistakes, Apologies. I'll do my best to fix them up.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Avatar:LoK. They are the sole properties of their respective owners.

**Prelude**

He awoke with the thunderclap. It was a somber tone, a boiling thing that spread across the sky as his mind tore itself free of the darkness. Images flashed through the inky black of his subconscious. Voices tearing at him until his body reacted and the sound of a gasp clawed its way up his throat and out of his mouth. His lungs screamed for air as he sat up, hoarse and bleary.

Where, who..?

"Finally awake are you, boy?"

The voice came from his right and tore him from his thoughts. He turned as his attention expanded outward and he took in his surroundings. He found himself in what looked like the belly of some cave, the rain pattering outside and a fire crackling between him and the speaker. She was an older woman, that much he could tell immediately, rivaling even his old sensei with the white of her hair which hung loosely about her. Her white eyes reminded him vaguely of another that he knew, but something about her said that those eyes both saw less than his friends and yet somehow - more than anyone. She wore a tan tunic of some kind that covered a green shirt and pants that stopped just past the knees.

"Who… who are you..?" He rasped, trying to find his voice and only causing a languid smile to spread across the woman's lips.

"No one really important boy. The important question is: who are you?"

He felt his brow furrow at her turnabout, but idly he searched his foggy memory for the answer to her question. "Uzumaki…" He started slow, then shook his head and swallowed past the coppery taste in his mouth. What was going on?

"Uzumaki Naruto." He said with a bit more conviction, causing the woman to smile slightly wider.

"Well then, Uzumaki. Why are you here in my swamp?" Her voice was gruff and short, but her words dug at his mind. Why was he-

He remembered someone screaming. A voice too high and desperate as something sailed into the air before it was sent crashing back into the ground by some unnatural force. A thing he couldn't - must not see, must not remember - _**'Know Pain.'**_

Suddenly he felt his stomach roil, hot and angry as fluid surged up his throat. He scrambled through the aching of his body and threw himself to one side, only to vomit bloody ichor from his body into a bowl waiting surprisingly beside where he lay in the cot.

"Mm." the woman grunted in acknowledgment, shaking her head as she stirred the fire between them. "You've been doing that for the past few days. Surprised you're still alive."

He rasped as the last of the fluid left him, stomach acid burning his throat. He could remember bits and pieces now. Training on a mountain with the toads - a battle in Konoha, his village. Bits of a fight and then- black.

He looked up at his companion then, and asked the only thing that made any sense in his mind, "Am I dead?"

She barked out a harsh laugh and shook her head at his question, snorting softly, "Hell no boy, though with your Chakras as out of whack as they are you probably should be."

"My Chakra..?" he said after a few more moments, only being able to swallow the dry disgusting taste of blood in his mouth before being able to continue, "You mean you can see my network?"

Her eyebrows arched at that, and quietly she stood and made her way around the fire. "Somehow, I don't think we're talking about exactly the same thing. When I say Chakras, I mean the chakras of your spirit. This," She said and by way of example struck him dead in his solar plexus. His whole body convulsed, his mind thrashing as he tried to heave up an already empty stomach. "All of it. Your spirit, your very being is completely imbalanced. None of your chi can flow properly because of it. It's like you have a hole in your chest and you don't even know it."

A hole in his-? Suddenly very scared, he tore at the black shirt adorning his chest to reveal the mark on his stomach where he knew the seal was - Only to find clean skin. Nothing but dirt and grime marred his flesh even as he pressed his fingers to the edges of the prison.

It was gone; His prisoner, the Kyuubi who had resided in his body for as long as he could remember. How had this happened? Just what was going on?!

"I really must be dead." He whispered, his fingers growing numb as they released the edges of his shirt. Again the woman snorted and shook her head.

"Well if you are, you'll be the first I've ever heard of dying and being spit back out from the Banyan-grove Tree. And before you ask, it's the big tree at the center of this swamp."

He looked up at her regardless, confusion evident on his face and she let out a sigh of exasperation. " I found you a few days back washed up on one of the roots. Figured either you'd wake up and try to figure out what happened, or you'd die and become good fertilizer for the tree we're under."

He recoiled ever so slightly and forced himself to swallow once more before he croaked out, "Well I guess I woke up. What now?"

"Hell if I care." She snapped, before pacing around the fire to retake her seat. "Long as you don't disturb my peace, I couldn't care less what you do. And if you wanna find a place to push up daisies, then I guess you found no better place for a supposed dead guy." She smirked and rolled her shoulders, "But if that's not what you want then honestly I'd suggest you pay that old fool's son, Tenzin, a visit. Brats probably old enough now to help with all that 'spiritual healing' mumbo-jumbo him and twinkle-toes used to go on about."

"Who..?" Naruto started to ask, only for her to cut him off once more.

"No one you need to know. Actually, no, if you plan to stay here for long I guess you _should_ know, but I don't feel like teaching. Find someone else to tell you about this place. I can tell you're not like the rest of us, though not by much. Enough to know that you probably know jack all nothin' of this world."

She leaned back at that, digging her fingers into the soil at her side before raising it up and letting it sift from her hand. "So get out there and learn about it. Don't be like the little snots that think they run this world yet are so disconnected from everything going on across it. Or don't. Hell if I care."

They sat in silence after her statement for a long while after that while he processed it all before finally, he spoke again. "This Tenzin; where can I find him?"

"To the north, in a place known as Republic City. Last I knew he lived on an island there called Air Temple Island. Past that - Well, I can't exactly give you directions now can I?" She said, waving a hand in front of her face to illustrate her lack of sight. "As to how you can get there… again, hell if I know or care. Swim, walk, hell, I can launch you halfway there. Can't guarantee you'll survive the landing but hey, that's half the fun." She gave him a wicked lopsided smile and nervously he shook his head.

"Uh, no, that doesn't sound like something I'd want to try. Walking is it then I guess."

"Pity. Launching people never gets old." Somehow he both doubted it did and knew it was probably something he never wanted to find out about. She let out a wistful sigh that made him wonder just how many she had done that to before she spoke again, "Well then I guess you'll probably want to visit the village nearby. It ain't much or pretty but they'll probably be able to guide you how to get to Republic City better than I ever could."

"Right," He agreed with a nod before sitting up, "Uh, should I just..?" He let the question hang unfinished and the woman groaned in annoyance before stomping her foot. Suddenly and without warning the cot he was in lurched as the ground rumbled before something hard smashed into him from below and threw him from the linen. "Yes, go! Shoo! Get out of my swamp!" She growled, and Naruto found himself on his hands and knees at the mouth of the cave.

How had she done that?

He hadn't seen any hand signs and she didn't strike him as some kind of ninja. Yet that was definitely some kind of technique she'd just performed. Standing, he shook his head to dispel the shock as the rain pelted him. "I, uh, well…" Finally, he sighed, scratched the back of his head in what must have been embarrassment before he nodded.

"Right. Take care then, Obaa-san!" He said with a small smile and a wave he somehow knew she could probably see, before turning and starting off into the marshland before him.

She watched him from within the cave, felt the uneven movement of his steps. His heart beating irregularly in his chest and the way his being troubled the waters he walked through. She knew a broken spirit when she saw one. And his… no matter how bright, how much like the sun against her skin his spirit had once felt, she knew he carried a mountain on his back. His shoulders had the weight of the world on them, much like Aang had, towards the end of his life. She hoped he wouldn't end up as he had. Then again, fools like those two always did think it was their job to save the world. Still, he'd have to save himself first.

Quietly, she turned and looked over her shoulder, to deeper in the cave. "There. I helped that fool of a boy. Are you happy yet? I want my peace back, damnit."

The presence she could feel there seemed to smile in her mind's eye and nodded in satisfaction. And then it was gone. "Stupid spirits." She grumbled to herself, then turned back to the peace of her fire, even as she idly tracked a certain idiot's progress across her swamp.

He had trudged for hours. Or was it minutes? It was… it was… He didn't know.

The only thing he did know was that at some point the terrain had changed from swampy water and muddy trees to verdant grassland that expanded out well beyond the edge of where he could see. Granted, it wasn't like he could see far with how heavy the rain had gotten.

Yet still, that wasn't really a problem either.

No, something else ate at him, but he couldn't find the words. Images flashed behind his eyes as he walked, silhouettes moving in the clouds of his mind. He could remember so much of who he was, how he'd lived his life. Yet here at this point was something he couldn't quite describe. No words could.

How could they? How could something as simple as words express the weight he felt in his soul? The ache in his whole body. What had happened? How had he gotten here? Everything felt so hesitant, a poignant breath that the world took every time he thought about it all. He knew though. He had to know. He just couldn't admit it. To admit it meant that it was real. To admit it meant that he had…

He had…

He saw Tsunade's lifeless body, twisted and broken as a part of the village wall had collapsed on her.

He….

He could feel Shizune's empty stare, the soul ripped from her body as even in death, she leveled her gaze at him.

What had he..?

Kakashi had been crushed mercilessly. And he wasn't alone. Again and again, he saw their eyes. Felt their anger and pain. _'Say it.'_

He could hear it in the wind and felt the fear as it rippled through his body. He could feel the cold press of their words against his skin, lifeless. _'Say what you did.'_

But he didn't want to. Because saying it meant he accepted that he had-

He saw her. Lavender white eyes and dark hair. She smiled at him even through the blood covering her face. Why had she done it? Why couldn't he save her? Why didn't she blame him..?

"I failed." He whispered, and she only smiled softer at him. She shook her head as the sky wept, and he felt his legs give out on him. He crumpled to the ground, staring lifelessly at his hands as he finally acknowledged the words in his mind. The truth of his situation. And like a dam holding back his emotions, when his voice finally gave way to the truth so did his mind. Bit by bit he felt himself break apart. Felt his body tremble as the sobs began to wrack his body until he clenched his fists so hard he felt his nails dig into his palms.

Flinching back, he opened his hands, only to find them covered in blood. Blood that seeped into everything. Blood that coated his hands, his arms, the ground around him. The sky wept it, accusing him of the crime of his failure. Their blood was on him, and he would carry it til the day he died.

No. No, No, NO. No No NoNonononono- He would not. He could not. He had to do something- But there was nothing. Nothing but the anguish of his screams into an uncaring world as his spirit shattered at his loss.


End file.
